kt
Newbie
Posts: 18
|
Post by kt on Oct 24, 2005 21:10:16 GMT
I fell in love with Denmark while I was there. It was on my 'life list' to travel back to the country where my family was from. I felt like I was at home there.
Denmark is absolutely beautiful. It is so tidy and well kept. Being a passionate gardener I was in awe of how much pride everyone seems to take in keeping their house and yards looking perfect. The fact that most people spoke English made it easy as my Danish is rough at best. haha One of the best meals I enjoyed was in Aalborg. Unfortunately it was very rainy while I was in Aalborg, so seeing much of the sites was hampered quite a bit. I'll be back again for sure though!
It was surreal for me to be sitting in an 1100 year old castle in Brønderslev having breakfast knowing that I could personally trace back 400 years of my family to the same small town. Thinking about relatives of mine being in the same place centuries ago had a profound impact on me. Then, finding artifacts in the Hjørring Museum that my Great(x7) Grandfather had made with his own two hands brought tears to my eyes. What can I say. I was a different person coming home than I was when I got there. How many people can say that a vacation has had such a positive effect on them as a person? Probably a rare few and I'm happy to be in that number.
My family has retained much of the Danish traditions and they have deep meaning to me. I attend a yearly Danish picnic here in Ontario for Danish Canadians, and am able to purchase my Royal Copenhagen Christmas plates when I'm there. lol I LOVE Danish food and am pretty accomplished in Scandinavian cooking myself. Assembing an open faced sandwich for my lunch comes second nature to me as do all of the other staples of the Danish diet. I've got a red cabbage in the fridge right now that will become Rødkål in a day or two. haha
Should you ever decide to travel to Canada I'm sure that you will find some similarities between the two countries. You will however, be wowed by the sheer size of Canada.
|
|
|
Post by peterh on Oct 24, 2005 22:17:58 GMT
Such praise for small Denmark! It makes me proud to be Danish when descendants seek out their roots and falls in love our country. Personally, I don't know much about Hjørring but I can imagine it being overwhelming to follow in the footsteps of relatives who lived centuries ago. Do you find Danish history fascinating? Afaik Canada doesn't have a long and defined history as Denmark and I'm wondering if it's appealing to have a second homeland with written roots back to our first king, Gorm. Denmark is historically bonded to the English speaking countries and we learn English at an early age. Too bad you weren't able to see much of Aalborg. It has a rumor of being boring, which is a bit unfair, really. There are beautiful places and if you're ever in Aalborg around May, I'd reccomen watching the carnival, the biggest in Northern Europe. As an aside, at what restuarant did you eat in Aalborg? I'm curious to know if it's actually one of the good places, haha ;D I take Danish traditions and cooking for granted and it's easy to lose sight of what it means to other people. So I'm pretty interested in the traditions you keep. You probably have a traditional north American christmas but do you keep some Danish traditions there too? And how about our royal family, do you feel more connected to those than the British roayl family? Also, what Danish recipies you have? I'd be happy to help you out with if I can. How about frikadeller, which was an absolute hit when I was in the US, boller i karry or maybe some Danish pålæs, which I couldn't find overseas And you're right about Canada. I was an au pair in the US some years ago and I was wowed by the size NY, Denver and the mountains in Colorado. Pretty much the only big city we have is Copenhagen and Denmark is a small country. So I'll definetly be taken by the sheer size of Canada.
|
|
|
Post by Elliot Kane on Oct 25, 2005 2:45:57 GMT
Sorry to step in here, folks, but I have to remind you that ProBoards have an absolute prohibition against the use of non-English languages on their boards. I have no idea how far that prohibition extends, and no desire to test it. Sorry...
|
|
|
Post by peterh on Oct 25, 2005 11:14:45 GMT
Sorry to step in here, folks, but I have to remind you that ProBoards have an absolute prohibition against the use of non-English languages on their boards. I have no idea how far that prohibition extends, and no desire to test it. Sorry... It's not a big deal, El. I'll remove it
|
|
|
Post by Elliot Kane on Oct 25, 2005 14:25:28 GMT
Thanks, Peter Please feel free to carry on discussing Denmark as much as you'd like. I may not be able to contribute much unless you go back a coupple of thousand years, but I'm very interested in reading it all
|
|
|
Post by peterh on Oct 25, 2005 14:28:13 GMT
Thanks, Peter Please feel free to carry on discussing Denmark as much as you'd like. I may not be able to contribute much unless you go back a coupple of thousand years, but I'm very interested in reading it all Heh, hopefully we'll continue the discussion. I'm interested in hearing more from Kt
|
|
|
Post by janggut on Oct 26, 2005 4:39:03 GMT
glad that u drop by, KT. from your posts, u are quite a nice person. good to have yet another canadian member though for Pete's sake, i would have to say good to have yet another danish member. ;D
|
|
|
Post by peterh on Oct 26, 2005 7:20:03 GMT
glad that u drop by, KT. from your posts, u are quite a nice person. good to have yet another canadian member though for Pete's sake, i would have to say good to have yet another danish member. ;D I dunno, Jang, I'm the token Danish funboy. Another Dane will just take away my momentum.....and divide my considerable fanbase here
|
|
|
Post by philster on Oct 26, 2005 7:22:04 GMT
Been busy recruiting, EK, I see.
Welcome, KT!
|
|
|
Post by Elliot Kane on Oct 26, 2005 9:45:34 GMT
I never stop looking for great new boardies, Phil. You know that
|
|
|
Post by peterh on Oct 26, 2005 11:17:35 GMT
I never stop looking for great new boardies, Phil. You know that Yep and new members are always nice additions to the boards
|
|
|
Post by Elliot Kane on Oct 26, 2005 11:22:17 GMT
They really are
|
|
dominiccarr
Apprentice
You're a bloody puppet!...You're a wee, little puppet man!
Posts: 346
|
Post by dominiccarr on Oct 31, 2005 1:26:23 GMT
Welcome!
|
|
|
Post by SilvaShado on Nov 1, 2005 17:56:23 GMT
Welcome KT! ^_^
|
|
Max
Chaosite
Imagine all the people...
Posts: 610
|
Post by Max on Nov 1, 2005 20:48:21 GMT
Welcome, KT!
|
|
|
Post by Shan on Nov 2, 2005 1:21:11 GMT
Looks like I wasn't around when you arrived KT, but I did want to say "Hi and Welcome." So: Hi, I'm Shan. And: Welcome to the wild and wacky world of Chaos. I hope you will like it here and join in all the wild and crazy fun we have. Shan
|
|
kt
Newbie
Posts: 18
|
Post by kt on Dec 7, 2005 0:08:24 GMT
First, my apologies to Peter for being so tardy with my reply to your questions after such a warm welcome. As Elliot might have mentioned, I've been having quite a busy time on the Skye Sweetnam board, but have logged on here tonight for a much needed break. haha When I was in Aalborg, I ate at Provence Restaurant. It was wonderful. Unfortunately I can't remember what I ordered, but the fellow sitting at a table across from me had a shrimp cocktail that was enormous. I think the shrimps weighed about 10 pounds a piece. haha One thing that I found hard to get used to in Denmark was that you didn't add a waiter's tip onto the bill - it's included in the price. I always felt strange not adding more money on to the bill and when we tried to add more, we were told it wasn't necessary. How civilized! haha Luckily for us, we were visiting Denmark in May, so the flowers were beautiful. We did miss the carnival though, perhaps next time we'll plan around it. The entire country just oozed history. Here in Canada, an historic building is barely over a hundred years old. It's funny that one of the oldest historic sites on our continent is the remnants of the settlement built by Vikings when they discovered North America. Go Vikings! As for Danish customs, my family celebrates on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day - that covers both customs nicely. haha We eat all of the traditional Danish foods or it just wouldn't seem like Christmas. I'm always in charge of bringing no less than 5 pounds of Brunede Kartofler. Any less than that and my brothers complain. lol We also have to have Rødkål or a riot will break out. My mother makes a wicked Ris Ala Mande even though it's usually hard to find the room to enjoy a big bowl after all of the food with dinner. We usually open our presents first. That buys us the time to make room for dessert and also keeps the young kids from tearing the house apart while waiting for their presents. You asked about Frikadeller. Yes! I love them. In fact I made 4 pounds of them last night and am enjoying them for dinner again tonight. They are being accompanied by Rødkål and Brunede Kartofler (kind of a pre-Christmas thing I guess). I'll freeze the rest and use them for open-faced sandwiches and dinners when I want a real treat. I've not ever made Boller, but based on your rave reviews I'm going to try making them really soon. I've checked my cookbooks and I do have a recipe! I'm not sure what Danish pålæs are, but I'll check my cookbooks to see if they are described in any one of them. (I think I've got 6 or 7 Scandinavian cookbooks.) As for the royal families, the British royals are generally not top-of-mind for most Canadians. They aren't really all that prominent, even though the Queen is on most of our money and stamps. Lady Diana, on the other hand, was huge over here while she was alive. Prince William has taken over her popularity with most of us. I was very interested in the Danish Royal Wedding last year, mostly because I had just been in Copenhagen the year before. I could recognize many of the places that were on TV. I'll take you up on your offer for recipes if I can't find Danish pålæs. That is, unless they are the Danish word for fish guts or something. hahaha
|
|
|
Post by janggut on Dec 7, 2005 3:50:57 GMT
KT, that word might mean cured entrails. ;D anyways, love your lengthy post. wish i can sample some of your heavenly cooking.
|
|
|
Post by Dark Phoenix Rising on Dec 7, 2005 8:24:31 GMT
Sorry for the late welcome, but I guess you've found your way around already
|
|
|
Post by peterh on Dec 7, 2005 15:30:57 GMT
First, my apologies to Peter for being so tardy with my reply to your questions after such a warm welcome. As Elliot might have mentioned, I've been having quite a busy time on the Skye Sweetnam board, but have logged on here tonight for a much needed break. haha When I was in Aalborg, I ate at Provence Restaurant. It was wonderful. Unfortunately I can't remember what I ordered, but the fellow sitting at a table across from me had a shrimp cocktail that was enormous. I think the shrimps weighed about 10 pounds a piece. haha One thing that I found hard to get used to in Denmark was that you didn't add a waiter's tip onto the bill - it's included in the price. I always felt strange not adding more money on to the bill and when we tried to add more, we were told it wasn't necessary. How civilized! haha Luckily for us, we were visiting Denmark in May, so the flowers were beautiful. We did miss the carnival though, perhaps next time we'll plan around it. The entire country just oozed history. Here in Canada, an historic building is barely over a hundred years old. It's funny that one of the oldest historic sites on our continent is the remnants of the settlement built by Vikings when they discovered North America. Go Vikings! As for Danish customs, my family celebrates on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day - that covers both customs nicely. haha We eat all of the traditional Danish foods or it just wouldn't seem like Christmas. I'm always in charge of bringing no less than 5 pounds of Brunede Kartofler. Any less than that and my brothers complain. lol We also have to have Rødkål or a riot will break out. My mother makes a wicked Ris Ala Mande even though it's usually hard to find the room to enjoy a big bowl after all of the food with dinner. We usually open our presents first. That buys us the time to make room for dessert and also keeps the young kids from tearing the house apart while waiting for their presents. You asked about Frikadeller. Yes! I love them. In fact I made 4 pounds of them last night and am enjoying them for dinner again tonight. They are being accompanied by Rødkål and Brunede Kartofler (kind of a pre-Christmas thing I guess). I'll freeze the rest and use them for open-faced sandwiches and dinners when I want a real treat. I've not ever made Boller, but based on your rave reviews I'm going to try making them really soon. I've checked my cookbooks and I do have a recipe! I'm not sure what Danish pålæs are, but I'll check my cookbooks to see if they are described in any one of them. (I think I've got 6 or 7 Scandinavian cookbooks.) As for the royal families, the British royals are generally not top-of-mind for most Canadians. They aren't really all that prominent, even though the Queen is on most of our money and stamps. Lady Diana, on the other hand, was huge over here while she was alive. Prince William has taken over her popularity with most of us. I was very interested in the Danish Royal Wedding last year, mostly because I had just been in Copenhagen the year before. I could recognize many of the places that were on TV. I'll take you up on your offer for recipes if I can't find Danish pålæs. That is, unless they are the Danish word for fish guts or something. hahaha Hey Kt, good to see you again. And no need to apologise. Elliot's told us how busy you are and I'm just glad you're back Heh, I must admit I've never been at Provence but I've heard good stuff about it, although none involved tipping the waiter (which i always do either way) or their Shrimp cocktail. I don't know how it's served elsewhere but It's probably just the regular sized Danish ones Yeah, I've often wondered the historic angle. You're probably not used to seeing old historic buildings and we have plenty of them - Aalborg itself was founded around 1100, iirc. Two christmas celebrations? That sounds nice - does that mean two set of presents? What else do you eat christmas eve - hopefully not 5 pounds of brunede kartofler? I hate that stuff - eeew. Likewise I was never big on rødkål. Ris ala mande is an absolute killer at christmas. I love the stuff but am always too full to eat much. Anyway on chrismas eve we put an whole almond ( I think that's the word) and whoever finds it gets a special Almond present - it's a tradition. Frikadeller is nice, I make it reguarly but to me it's not that big of a treat - again I'm pretty used to it. Danish pålæg is what we put on our sandwich and bread. Leverpostej, spegepølse and rullepølse to name a few - the way you use roastbeef and such Boller i karry is good, you should try it. Heh, I was interested in the royal wedding too and had a feeling you canadians liked William a lot. It's quite fun fo spot those places you've been on tv but I didn't know the wedding was broadcasted to Canada or were you in Denmark then? Oh, you won't get any fish gut from me but maybe I'll post some recipies in the upcoming food forum.
|
|